A fEw Of OuR fAvOrItE tHiNgS fRoM 2010...

2010 WENT BY SO FAST, HERE ARE A LIST OF A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS FROM THE PAST YEAR...

5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY (Jan. 8, 2010)
BIRTHDAYS!
WYATT 2 ON APRIL 25
BEN 25 ON MAY 14
ADAM 5 ON MAY 16
ALLI 24 ON JUNE 23

GOING TO SLC FOR BEN'S BIRTHDAY
DINNER WITH GREAT FRIENDS
SUGARLAND CONCERT!!!! (BEN'S FIRST CONCERT!)

ADAM LEARNING TO SWIM FROM PAPA MITCH
VISITS FROM ALL THE GRANDPARENTS
FINALLY SWITCHING OUR PHONES TO IDAHO #'S :)
NEW VEHICLE, CHRYSLER ASPEN
POTTY TRAINING

KINDERGARTEN (ADAM LOVES HIS TEACHERS!)
LEARNING TO READ
PASSING MATH (PROBABLY ONE OF MY FAV'S FOR THE YEAR!)
DEEP FRIED TURKEY
WYATT LEARNING ABC'S
CAMPING
YELLOWSTONE

PASSING PRAXIS EXAM
FRANK II (ADAM'S FISH RIP)
BEN'S FIRST ELK
FAMILY PICTURES
HEALTHY AND HAPPY FAMILY!

I HOPE EVERYBODY HAS HAD A GREAT 2010 AND MAY YOUR 2011 BE FILLED WITH LOVE, HEALTH AND HAPPINESS!

ChRiStMaS jAmMiEs & JoY...

We decided to start a new tradition this year, and that is on Christmas Eve we will all get to open one present from each other, jammies! Pj's is not a word allowed in our house according to the little ones. I called them Pj's once and was quickly scorned by Adam and Wyatt, "They are jammies Mom!"
So we all got to open a pair, and we wore them all day on Christmas day. I'm not even ashamed to say that, we just sat around all day, opening presents, watching movies, and playing games. It was so nice to hang out with our little family all day.
Little Wyatt's jammies had sock monkeys and snow flakes on them! He looked so cute!


Adam's jammies were Bakugon. He loved them and in this photo he is doing a Bakugon pose (or at least he says he is, I don't really know.)





Ben's amazing jammies have smurfs! Yes, I said smurfs. I really wanted to get him Superman ones but I couldn't find any in his size. But smurfs are awesome in my book!


And then there are mine. They are super comfy and have little white and red snowflakes on them from VS. I think I should win the prize for best pose, I don't know, Adam may be a little cooler than me :)


Christmas overall was a lot of fun. We did a lot of relaxing, playing, and singing. Wyatt has refused to go to sleep the last week or so unless I sing him some sort of Christmas song. His favorites have been Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. What cuties these little guys are, Christmas is so much more fun as a parent, I love seeing their smiling faces!

Busy, Busy...

Let's face it, my kids are pretty darn cute. Of course they drive me crazy sometimes, but they make me laugh more often than not.
Does something seem a little off here? Don't worry, that is a clean pull-up, but you have got to love his enthusiasm for potty training!

Well like I said last week, Wyatt and I have gotten to spend some extra time together just us. We have been running around, dancing through the house, and have been busy, busy, busy. So yesterday I thought we would have a quiet morning at home before heading out for the day. (You can see from the above picture how quiet of a morning it was!)

So around 11am I thought we would run a few errands before meeting a group of friends for lunch. We made it about 5 minutes in the car on the way to the bank and this happened...
I guess he was pretty worn out. Poor kid. Now you have to understand that he NEVER falls asleep in the car, even when he was a baby, he has always hated it. So since he was sleeping and I knew we were going to be out for a while, I decided not to wake him. I drove us over to Target, and parked, and played games on my phone, while he slept in the backseat. I did have to wake him up at 12pm so we could get our shopping done, but I was grateful that he took his little cat nap. He was delightful at lunch with the girls, flirting with all of them, and not making much of a fuss.

All I Want for Christmas is...

Oh I love how excited my boys get when they see Santa! They just loved sitting with him and couldn't wait to tell the Jolly ole man what they wanted for Christmas this year. Adam was quick to tell Santa that he wanted a "Cricket Rifle". (He is his dad's son for sure!) I'm sure this was influenced by Ben, just a little :) When Santa asked Wyatt what he wanted, he pointed to the girl taking the pictures! (He also takes after his dad's flirtatious side!) While it was very cute and I am glad we didn't have any meltdowns, I was able to snap a good picture and the boys each walked away with smiles and candy canes. Happy Holidays everyone!

WyAtT cOnTiNuEd: DaNcInG mAcHiNe...

This isn't something we have discovered in the past couple days, Wyatt has always been attracted to music. When he was younger (around 18 months) we were sitting at dinner and found him bopping along to the rhythm of our dishwasher!

This was taken around Thanksgiving time. "So You Think You Can Dance" should make a kid version because Wyatt is a clear shoe in! Sorry it is sideways :) I couldn't figure our how to rotate it. Enjoy!

WyAtT, oNe On OnE

Now that I am finished with my semester of school, and Adam still has another week left, I have gotten to spend some quality alone time with Wyatt. He just makes me laugh and I forget how nice it is to have that special time together. Here are a few things we have done and learned from each other the past few days.

He is OBSESSED with my head bands and hair ties! I can't count how many times I have gone to change his clothes and he has some sort of hair tie either on an arm or leg, or both!

Whenever he has seen any sort of holiday decoration or twinkling lights, he starts screaming "Christmas mom!" while jumping up and down and screaming from excitement.

He is quite the chatter box, and whenever I may not have heard him he yells "Mom! I am talking to you!" with so much attitude. (Usually while I am driving!)


He likes to growl at, well everything. Which only confirms that the roaring dinosaur that from Toy Story that I got him for Christmas was a good buy.

He loves giving hugs and kisses, which I love getting them. I've always known this, but just thought I would share. It really has been fun hanging out with my little guy. It is so rare that we get to spend time together like this. I only hope that he enjoys it as much as I do!

ThIs Is WhAt ScHoOl DoEs To Me!!!

Well it popped into my head, while I was avoiding my textbooks, that I hadn't updated the blog in, well forever! This is what school does to me! I forget things, I feel overwhelmed, I forget things...did I already say that? You get my point. So here are a few things that have gone on since the last update! We had a lovely Thanksgiving with mostly Ben's family here in Idaho, and some extended family as well. My parents were able to tag along, as well as my sister-in-law's sister and a friend of the family. It was just a ton of people that had a great time, or at least we did :). A big group of us went shopping on Black Friday too!
This is from us all waiting in line for Target to open. It is just prior to 4 am here. My mom and sister-in-law Jenny went to Toys R Us earlier and lets just say we will never be doing that again! But overall we had a lot of fun and made some fun memories! My family can really make me laugh sometimes!
I am almost finished with this semester! Yay! I have two finals to take tomorrow and then I am home free until January. This seemed like a really long semester to me for some reason, but it was a good one! I passed my Math class that has just been such a downer the past 2 semesters, and all my other classes went great. But I am so glad it is over. Next semester shouldn't be such a heavy load. I also took my Praxis 1 exam and passed with flying colors. It is a test you have to take to be a teacher. I will take the Praxis 2 just before I do my student teaching.
Adam and Wyatt are so excited for Christmas! I thought I would have to worry about Wyatt opening the presents, you know because he is the youngest. But once again my children surprised me and Adam was the one doing the unwrapping way ahead of schedule. I understand how hard it is to wait for gifts, so I think Grandma Cooper was reading their minds and decided to send some Christmas fun their way a little early!
These are some super fun glasses that when wearing them, the boys would see Santa's face in Christmas lights. They had so much fun with them I thought they would go blind from just staring at the lights so much and so closely!



This year we were feeling very fortunate for the things we have during the Holiday season so we decided to do something different in terms of gifts. We got a few things for each of the boys, but other than that, we didn't really do anything. Instead we decided to adopt a few Angels from the Salvation Army Angel trees. We chose two, a five year old boy and a 14 month old boy. It was really fun to talk about what we were doing, and it actually got more people to join in on the gift giving. It just makes us thankful every day for the things we have, and we were glad to give back this year.

LiKe A cHaNgEd WoMaN...

The past few months I have been feeling sort of sluggish, and looking it! So yesterday I decided to make a change, and chop off my hair.
This is a before picture taken in August. My hair is curly here so add a couple inches to that length and you get the idea.
This obviously is the AFTER! We chopped at least 6 inches off. It is an A-line cut (Shorter in the back, gradually gets longer towards the front.) I have been wanting a change for a while now and it feels so good!

Now that the hair is new, it is time a get back into shape and get a new body to fit the new hair. I am setting myself a goal to lose 25 pounds by May 2011. I did this about a year and a half ago, but getting back into school I kind of lost my schedule and haven't gotten back to the gym as often as I would have liked. As a family I feel as though we have already changed our diets to eat healthier thanks to a little Co-op called Bountiful Baskets. (It's full of great fruits and veggies). Now I just need to get a good exercise schedule down and I should be well on my way to a healthier, and happier me! I am really excited to get started, and I will be updating my progress often. So here goes nothing... :)

OuR LiTtLe PoTtY pRo...

Yes I said it, Wyatt is becoming our little professional potty user! (He must take after the rest of the family, and I appreciate it!) It all started last week when out of the blue Wyatt decided that he wanted to go potty, and instead of sitting there doing nothing, a little "tinkle" sound was heard throughout the Tolman household!
This was such a monumental achievement for my little guy, once he finished he jumped up and yelled, "I DID IT!!!" It was so cute.
Ever since then, he has been wearing his "big boy undies" and hates wearing diapers! This is so great for me, since Adam was seriously difficult to potty train. I think Wyatt wants to be just like his big brother in every way so he wants to wear underwear all day too! Way to go baby, we love you, and mommy sure appreciates not changing as many diapers!

Brotherly Love...

Well today I am home sick with the boys. Adam has had the flu, and I can tell that I am fighting it off. I am not the only one fighting in our household today. Adam and Wyatt seem to have it out for each other! It is days like today that I have to remember how cute my boys really are and even if they are having a HORRIBLE, AWFUL day, they always have their cute moments and memories I can look back on and tell myself that I need to let them survive to have more wonderful moments together! Here are some of those moments that keep me sane...
This was Adam's first day of Kindergarten! Wyatt was so proud of his big brother and wanted to be just like him!Adam and Wy thought that they would play dress up in mom and dad's sweaters today. Toy blocks were their guns and they hunted deer around our house. Where they get these ideas is beyond me (but I love it!)
This was taken last fall. Wyatt wasn't quite 18 months old yet and was just discovering what fun it was to play in the leaves, and Adam was all too willing to help show him. It was a fun day in the park!This was from our most recent session of family pictures, and it doesn't get any better than this. They are both just so sweet, and even though they have their moments of driving mom up the wall, they make up for it x10 with moments like these. It's always a good trip down memory lane.

Halloween Happenings

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays for the boys. It is so fun to see them all dressed up and showing off their great costumes! This year Adam decided he wanted to be a storm trooper, and Wyatt was a monkey. Wyatt actually wore the same costume that Adam wore when he was two. It's crazy how much they look alike!
They are just so funny! Wyatt kept walking around and showing everybody his awesome feet (this was also my favorite part of his costume). We went to our first neighborhood Trunk-or-Treat and the kids thought that it was just great! Then of course we made the rounds to visit family.
Such proud grandparents! In the top picture, the boys are with Grandma and Grandpa Tolman and Uncle Jackson! (Yes, Jackson is 4 and he is Adam and Wyatt's Uncle!)
The bottom picture is the boys with Bepe and Pake!
After visiting with all of our great family that lives so close, we called it a night and Ben and I went through the kids candy to check for any "bad apples" and of course to pick out all of our favorite treats :) Every parent knows that they steal their kids candy, it's ok to admit it!
We try to do some other things to get us into the Halloween spirit every year. So we carve pumpkins! This year was really funny, because wanted nothing to do with it. When all he wanted to do last year was be shoulder deep in the pumpkin guts. So this year Adam was covered and Wyatt just watched.
This is last year's photo, as you can see, they both joined in. I couldn't find the photo's I took for this year, but you get the idea! I hope you all had a fun Halloween! We are looking forward to a great and loving holiday season!

I have to keep telling myself NO!!!!

Does anybody else notice that there are a TON of pregnant people around here? I swear at least half of my HS graduating class had babies in the year 2010. Usually this wouldn't bother me, but I am SOOOO baby hungry. Adam and Wyatt are 3 years apart, and we just past the point that even if I got pregnant today, there would be a bigger gap than 3 years between Wyatt and the next baby! I just have to keep telling myself NO! Ben is pretty good at bringing me back to reality that right now is just not the right time though. We have talked that we want to wait to have another baby until I am finished with school. Totally reasonable, I know, but babies are just so sweet and cute and everyone I know is having one. Man do I really want another one! No, no, no, no, NO! That's all! :)

Back to Business

Now that we are 5 weeks into the school year, I think we are finally hitting our groove. I figured if Stella could get her groove back then it was only a matter of time before we did as well. It has been a really rough few weeks lately. Adam is loving school and he is now going to kindergarten all day instead of just half a day. He was running a little behind in his reading so we were able to get him into the extended kindergarten so he can be all caught up in no time. He is really enjoying it. He has two teachers, two classrooms, two recesses, and he even gets to stay and eat lunch like the "big kids." I am really glad that he is enjoying it because I was really worried at first. I am finally figuring out my routine with school and I have started observations at a local elementary school. I am observing a 4th grade class and am loving it. The teacher I am observing has a lot of the same teaching styles that I think I would use so it is nice to see it in action. All of my classes have been going really great lately, but I don't have my first math exam until this upcoming Wednesday, so we will see how that goes! Wyatt is learning things so fast these days. He just picks up everything and repeats it all day long. He is just so sweet. Ben has been working a lot lately and hauling scrap. Trying to bank up some extra time and money to get ready for hunting season. Just a few more weeks and I will become a single mother for the months of Oct.-Nov. He has worked it out that he is basically taking the entire month of October off JUST to go hunting! Crazy boys and their hobbies. I am hoping he gets one the first day so I can get some extra help around the house! I will let you know how that goes as well! Hope everyone is enjoying the fall months, they sure are beautiful!

Am I tHe OnLy OnE????

As you all know, or should know if you are reading this blog, Wyatt is 2 1/2 now. Well it seams that we have developed a little bit of a situation when it comes to grocery shopping with him. First let me explain how I have come to this conclusion. While at school the other day I was talking with some friends (who are also mothers), and we were talking about shopping. As you all should also know, I really don't like to shop. I like to get what I need and book it for the door! While talking about shopping, the subject of grocery shopping came up, and why my friends don't like to go shopping with their kids. The usual answers came up: "They always ask if they can have a lot of stuff," "They are loud," "It takes way too much time to shop with them." So hearing they have most of the same issues that I did, I thought they would recognize my problem with Wyatt. Apparently they did not and thought that it was hilarious. They were all laughing so hard that they were crying. They even wanted me to get video and pictures of him while I shop. Now let me tell you what Wyatt does.
He feels the need to hold things. EVERYTHING! I have learned that I need to give him things that are heavy. So I put the milk up next to him in the little child carrier.
He likes to touch the cartons and tell me how cold they are. This isn't so bad. I have learned to stack things in the cart as far away from him as possible. Otherwise, he is leaning over the carrier and trying to grab anything within his reach. He also likes to hold cereal bags and hug them like pillows.
So you are probably thinking what is the problem here, right? Well this is all fine with me, until he starts throwing things out of the cart at people. He once hit a lady with a thing of Yogurt! And just prior to taking this picture he threw the hat that he was wearing in the picture before, over the checkout stand and into the isle over! He also has another problem...
He likes to bite through packaging! I cannot put anything close to him that could be ripped apart by his little chompers! He has bitten his way through hot dog packages, cheese, bread loafs. Anything he can get his little teeth on basically. I have even tried feeding him before we go shopping, but if you know Wyatt, he can eat all day and still be hungry. So my question is, does anybody else have this problem? It's funny sometimes, I know, but I need to know some suggestions. Anybody? Anybody?

KiNdErGaRtEn AwEsOmEnEsS...

Well Ben and I are now officially proud parents of a KINDERGARTNER!!! How crazy is that. Ever since we registered Adam for Kindergarten this past spring, I have been reminiscing about how small he use to be, and how fast time has gone by. I was remembering just last week how small he was when he was born. A whole whopping 3 1/2 lbs. He was so helpless then, and he always needed me. I feel like now that he is going to school, he doesn't quite need me as much anymore. He is such a big boy. Nevertheless, I can't stop time and he has been so excited to go to school. Wyatt is having a tough time with Adam going to school now too. Every time I have taken him to school, Wyatt just cries and says he wants to go with Adam. It is so sweet that they want to be together.
Adam and Wyatt together before we take Adam to his first day of school. It was pouring rain that day, so I didn't get to get a picture of Adam in front of the school, I don't think he minded :)

Me and the big boy! He is such a handsome kid. I even let him pick out his own first day of school outfit and he said he wanted a button down shirt so the teacher would like him. So cute!

This is Adam and his teacher Miss Day whom I have heard only great things about. She was very nice and upbeat when we met her, and I think Ben and I were both very impressed. It takes a lot of patience to be a Kindergarten teacher. He also has a class aid that he really likes. The second picture he is just checking out what is in the rest of the classroom. He was one of the first kids there on the first day, so they got to play with toys until the rest of the kids showed up.
So now he has gone to 3 days of school and so far so good. He doesn't like getting up in the morning, but I think he will get use to it soon. I am just so proud of my big boy. He has had so many obstacles in his short life and still he is the smartest 5 year old I know. He picks things up so quickly and gets engaged in almost everything he does and never stops amazing me. I sure love him!

So LoNg SuMmEr...

Today is officially my last day of summer. I will be putting the kids in daycare tomorrow, and off to school I go. We had such a fun summer this year with so many things going on. Adam had his first summer of T-ball and loved it, despite being a bit of a ball hog. We got our yard put in, which is a miracle all on it's own, and it looks great! We bought a new car, which I am still getting used to and Ben still wants to "pimp" it out. We've been camping, swimming, to the park too many times to count, and had so much fun along the way. But now the nights are getting pretty cold and it is starting to feel like fall. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but I don't think I'm really ready for the weather change.
Adam starts Kindergarten next week and he is really excited about it. We will go this Thursday to meet his teacher and possibly some other kids in his class. Getting him ready for school has been harder than I thought it would be. Just the school supplies alone are frustrating. They need so many things and you can't find them all at the same store. And even if they did have them all there, of course what you need is all sold out because there are hundreds of other moms out buying the same thing! They should make a delivery service for school supplies...once you register your child you get a package in the mail a week later with everything they will need for class. Then you can avoid the crazy supply isles at Walmart and all the kids screaming for what color notebook they want! It's chaos! ANYWAY!!! Pictures of the first day of school will be coming soon...Adam's not mine. Till then!

a DiMe In TiMe...

10 years ago this week, I was 14 years old getting ready for my first high school dance. Of course I was full of nerves because I didn't want to get pegged as a nerd and I wanted to be one of the cool kids. Little did I know that this was going to be the night that would change my life forever. This was the night that I met Ben for the first time. The entire night was kind of a blur of meeting up with friends I hadn't seen all summer, but I remembered meeting him. I was so nervous about talking to him that when Josh Curtis introduced us, I said the dumbest thing, "I like your shoes!" I know I am a huge dork. Well even with my dorky line I must have made a good impression because 4 1/2 years later we were married on January 8, 2005.Ben was my first REAL boyfriend. He was my first kiss. My first love. My best friend. Knowing each other for so long has been such a blessing in our lives. We have a ton of fun memories of basically us growing up together.
Now after beautiful little boys have joined our family and we have been married for 5 1/2 years I feel like we are stronger than ever and I still fall in love with him more every day! Thank you for 10 amazing (and sometimes crazy) years honey. We truly are meant for each other!

SpLaShInG aRoUnD...

With basically only one more week left of summer I have been packing as much "summertime" activities into it as possible. We have been spending the majority of our time outdoors. Whether it be just playing baseball, running through the sprinklers, bbq's, or going to the park, we will do it if it involves being outside! Our adventure today was the Splash Park in Rexburg. I had been hearing about how great it was all summer long, but I also had heard how busy it is and sometimes it gets a little crazy. Of course this is what happens when something is FREE! So I thought that the best time for us to go would be on a Sunday so we could avoid the crowds. My plan was perfect, yes I will say it again, PERFECT! We showed up to the park around 11:00am, laid our towels out and had a picnic. There were only two other kids there. Wyatt is not very big on sprinklers/fountains so it was nice that he wasn't being crowded by other kids and could take his time getting used to his surroundings. Adam had a blast immediately. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from our fun day of splashing around!
Wyatt and I watched Adam run around while we ate our lunch, it took him about 20 minutes to get up the courage to even get his little toes wet. He is so stinkin' cute!
I love this picture of Adam, only I wish he were running the other way. He had so much fun just running all over the place.
These little fountains were Wyatt's favorite part. He could just sit there and splash as much as he wanted and he wouldn't end up totally soaked.
Adam blocking two fountains to make the others go higher, his little legs could barely reach but he was determined!

ShOpPiNg SpReE fOr FrEe!!!!

Call me savvy or just call me lucky even, but in the last couple months I have been the recipient of Free Clothes! Yes I said FREE, and yes they may be hand-me-downs, but free is free! A couple months ago my sister Stephanie and her roommate decided that they were going to clear out their closets. Lucky me, because I walked away with tons of new, well new to me, clothes. Mostly a lot of cute winter sweaters and a couple summer tops and even a dress. I just love when she decides to do some spring cleaning! And then, yesterday I got a call from a family member, Leisa Tolman, and she said that she had tons of little boy clothes to give to me! Lets just say that I made off like a bandit! I walked out of her house yesterday with 3 huge garbage bags full of clothes for Wyatt. And a few shirts for Adam. The clothes consisted of everything from Pajamas, Pants, Shoes, Jackets, Shirts for both summer and winter! It was like heaven was smiling on me yesterday, and who knows how much money I am saving. Thank you Stephanie and Leisa! Love you both!

YeLlOwStOnE & mOrE!!!

Every year the Tolman's, my husband's immediate family all gets together for a "mini" family reunion. This year the destination was camping in West Yellowstone. We had a great camp spot, tons of food, fun, and plenty of wild little boys to keep us (and other campers) awake. We spent 2 days in Yellowstone National Park, which the boys absolutely loved and the rest of the time at camp. Ben and Adam were even able to get a little fishing in, even though it wasn't a fish producing venture.Adam and Wyatt with their cousin Elijah from Provo, Utah. These boys just love each other!

These are the Artist's Paint Pots. Adam said that this was his favorite place to visit. Gotta love smelly things that bubble right?

This is the steamboat geyser. We went to a couple geyser basins in the park and Wyatt was fascinated by them. This geyser is the highest exploding geyser in the world but there is no way to predict when it will erupt so it isn't as popular as Old Faithful.Adam was back at camp so we didn't get a full family picture while we were there :( But this one is in front of a big geyser.
Overall we had a really great time with the rest of the Tolman family. It's not very often that we all get together, and seeing as how this was our first time camping this summer. Sad I know. I thought that everything went really well. Until next year!

FaMiLy PiCtUrEs!!!

We got new family pictures taken back in May, I know it was a while ago and I am a little behind in posting these. We had them done by an old friend from High School that now has her own photography business and does really well. Ashley McKay! It was a beautiful day around Idaho Falls. Considering that the entire month of May and June consisted of mostly rain, we lucked out. Here are some of our favorites! Thanks again Ashley!

LeT tHe PaNiC sEt In...

Now that July is almost over I basically had a panic attack when I realized that August is, well, basically here! August for good reasons means, Tolman family camping trip to West Yellowstone. It also means that I am going to visit my little sister in Montana. Those are the great and wonderful things about August. Wanna know the not so great?
1st: I have to get my wisdom teeth out on the 20th. I have been avoiding this day for years. Since middle school basically. And now the day has come that they need to be removed and lets just say that the dentist is not most favorite person right now. :)
2nd: I start school back up again. All summer I have been wanting be back in school and now that it is just lurking around the corner, I feel suddenly overwhelmed. I don't like school but I like having a set schedule and knowing that the sooner school starts the sooner it will be finished.
3rd: ADAM IS STARTING KINDERGARTEN!!!!!!! This was my major panic moment. Probably one of the biggest in my life. I registered back in early spring and even then it was all a little odd. But now, in the next week or so I will be getting him school supplies, a new back pack, ya know, school stuff. I am just a little freaked out. He is so excited though and I know that he will do great. But I feel like he is getting to the point where he just doesn't need me as much anymore. I think this is probably a common feeling amongst most mothers when they reach this point in their child's life. For some reason I felt like this day would never come and he would be little forever. It's silly really.
So now that my momentary panic attack is over, the reality of it all is setting in. It's not so bad and we will get through it. Eventually?

ReLaY LiKe A rOcK sTaR!!!

This past Friday Idaho Falls held their annual fund raising event for the American Cancer Society. The Relay For Life. For the past 2 years I have been a part of the local EIRMC/Cancer Resource Center team and have enjoyed every minute of it. This year was the best ever! As a whole, we raised over $100,000 dollars to go towards cancer research. The actual relay event is an all nighter basically. It started at 6pm Friday night and ended 7am the next morning. It's full of fun events, vendors, raffles and an awesome DJ. All funds earned that night also go towards research. Here are a few fun photos from the night!

This is a photo of the luminaria bags. They are to remember those lives that have been lost to cancer. Each bag had a name of a loved one and they lined the track with candles to light them. A lap around the track was taken in complete darkness with just the bags to light the way. It is a seriously moving experience. And yes, I usually do the entire lap in tears. It is just amazing to see the magnitude of such a horrible disease.


These are just a few of the people that stayed the entire night, camping out!

Yeah, that's me with Elvis. I know you are jealous of this one!
I cannot wait for next year to come around to do this all over again. Being a part of this event every year brings me back to a more humble place I think. In a way it reminds me that there are people out there that have a harder life than I do and they are so strong the way they go through it. It reminds me to be thankful for everyday and for everyone that is in my life. Such a beautiful experience.